


Bobbin Bug

by Freedom_Shamrock



Series: Princess and Kitty [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Marichat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-22 23:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9630626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedom_Shamrock/pseuds/Freedom_Shamrock
Summary: Marichat friendship formed after repeated accidental encounters following Evillustrator.  Now in her final year of school before university, Marinette has a popular sewing vlog and a standing Friday night hang out with Paris' favorite black cat.





	1. Just Another Friday Night

"So, now all that's left are our finishing touches," Marinette explained, sliding a pile of buttons in front of the camera. "As I mentioned in last week's video, you should have already picked out your buttons to ensure your button holes were a good fit. If you get to this point and realize you hate your buttons, or they no longer fit your plan, don't worry. You can still alter the button holes, it's just a bit of rework."

She rotated the buttons so they were all turned the same direction. She'd gone with silver shank buttons shaped like cat heads. "I thought these matched my theme pretty well." She grinned, even though her face wasn't on screen. "They were entirely silver colored, and I wanted to bring in some of the vibrant green of the outfit's scheme, so I used a nice enamel paint to fill in the eyes."

She reached over and drew her zipper into the frame. "While I was at it, I embellished the zipper pull a bit as well." She zoomed in to show the paw print. "I didn't see any zippers that really screamed 'Chat Noir,' and I know most people don't really care about zippers. But for me, the little details are what really pull things together." She ran her finger over it. "Keeping with silver, I chose a zipper with a bar pull." Shifting the focus back, she continued, "We've all seen Chat Noir's baton, staff, thingie, and I wanted to allude to that here. So I added the markings we've seen in photos and videos." Of course she'd seen it in person on a regular basis, but her audience didn't know or need to know that.

She continued recording hand sewing the buttons and running the zipper through her machine. She narrated only at the key points, knowing she'd speed up and trim some to keep the length reasonable. No one needed to watch the whole assembly in real time. She paused the recording while she put the black leather suspender skirt on her dress form. She adjusted the clip lights she used for spot lighting, pleased with how the green stitching stood out. "And here we have the finished project. You can pair it with a shirt and accessories that suit you, of course. I'm planning a lime green wing-neck blouse for mine, because it will let me add a black choker with a bell, completing the look and tying it all back to the inspiration."

She set the camera on her desk so she could stand next to the dress form for her closing. "As always, if you've been following along on this project the last few weeks, I'd love to see your photos. And because I've just finished a series of videos on one project, next week will be a Q and A, so send me your questions by noon on Wednesday, Paris time, and I'll answer everything I can get to." She beamed at the lens. "Again, I'm Marinette, and thanks for watching the Bobbin Bug." She waved, then stood still for a count of five before cuing Tikki to turn off the camera.

As an expansion of her fashion interest, she'd started a vlog two years ago. Yet another classmate had come to her with an urgent wardrobe malfunction. Alya teased her about holding classes, as she used her phone to record Marinette reattaching Rose's button. The moment held a minor epiphany, and her Youtube channel was born. It started with the basics of threading needles and fixing seams and buttons As she gained a following, she moved to bigger projects and costumes, sometimes by request of her followers, and other times as she worked on her portfolio. Now in her last few months of terminale, she'd settled into a pattern of Friday night updates.

Tikki helped her plug in the camera to download the videos for editing. Marinette had gotten a tiny mouse, the kind that people often used with laptops, for her kwami who had really embraced the tech side of having a vlog. "I think this one's going to be really popular, Mari."

"Yeah?" Marinette glanced at the finished skirt, contemplating her pattern for the shirt she had in mind. The fabric was folded on the shelf just above her sewing machine, and she was itching to get started on it.

"I bet Chat's gonna love it."

Marinette's face went hot. "I'm not even sure how to respond to that," she replied, looking away and trying to sound normal. "Are you implying something about Chat or my motivation to make this?"

Tikki giggled, nearly dropping her cord in the process. "Oh what on **earth** could I be hinting at." She chattered happily as she downloaded the camera's data. "I mean, it's not like you noticed that his banter with Ladybug stopped including hand kisses and flirting some months back. Or that you've stopped gushing about a certain model. Or that Chat's been visiting you regularly for over a year, with Fridays being a standing date night."

"It's not date night," Marinette squeaked. "It's hang-out night. Because friends can do that."

Tikki looked up from the monitor. "Have you **not** noticed how much you two flirt?" She stared at her charge for a moment. "And the cuddling. Seriously. I apparently need to borrow your cell phone for documentation, because you two have some seriously high level snuggles going on there." She beamed, looking pleased as ever. "You know you're not fooling anyone, right?"

Marinette groaned and sat down heavily on her chaise. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

"You're not still crushing on Adrien, are you?"

Marinette shook her head. "No. I mean, I like him. He's great. But he's obviously never seen me that way. And that's fine. Now that I'm not focused on trying to get him to love me, we can actually talk." She shrugged. She'd been surprised two months into the school year when she realized that she was okay just being friends with him, that she didn't feel a need to seek anything more. "And he's an amazing person."

"And Chat?" Tikki prompted.

"He tries to hide it, but he's so lonely and sad." She stared at her fingers. While she'd given the matter plenty of thought, this was the first she'd spoken of it to anyone.

"Is that why you like him?" Concern flooded Tikki's voice.

Marinette shook her head. "No. It's just why I was willing to let him in, why I first invited him back." She sighed. "Making him smile was so worth it. But then…" Another head shake. "Silly cat weaseled his way into my heart." She pouted a little, popping out her lower lip. "He's the sweetest, kindest person I've ever met, and I really like him."

"That makes sense," Tikki said. "You are a matched set, after all."

Marinette let out a contented sigh. "Yeah." She glanced at her clock, a gift from Alya to help her keep better tabs on time. "Oh, we should get that video edited and posted. He'll be by in a two hours, tops, and it's always nicest if it's already posted when he gets here." Part of their Friday routine involved watching her new video together while reducing the bakery's old stock. He prompted her to respond to comments as they started coming in, mocking any trolls that showed up, and praising her instructional techniques and screen persona. Afterward they usually played Mecha Strike or watched a movie.

* * *

 

He was early. His claws tapping lightly on her skylight announced his arrival. Honestly, it was usually unlocked these days, just in case. Sometimes she left as Marinette and had to come back unexpectedly as Ladybug, but really it was more about making sure he had a place he could be.

Glancing to be sure that Tikki was safely tucked away in her secret nest, she called up to him. "Come on in, Kitty." She made a point of not watching him drop into her room, not sure how much he'd pick up in her expression. "I just got it posted."

"Is it done?" he asked eagerly, the moment his feet hit her floor. It was always lighter than she expected, especially now that he was so tall. He'd hit the six foot mark sometime last year, and hadn't stopped. "Can I see it? Why aren't you wearing it?"

She giggled. "Silly Kitty." She turned her spare desk chair toward him. "The skirt is done, but I'm still working on the rest of the outfit. I can't show it off until it fulfills my vision."

He beamed at her. "So I'll get to see it when it's all done?"

She nodded, laughing when he tackle-hugged her. "You inspired it, you know. It's only fair that you get to see it."

"Can I be the **first** to see it?" he asked.

"You'll definitely be the first to see it."

They were halfway through the video when there was a knock on her trap door. "Marinette, honey?" Her mother's voice filtered through. "Are you decent?"

Chat paused the playback while she got up to raise the door. "Of course I'm dressed, what kind of question is that?"

Her mother grinned smugly at her. "Oh, I don't know, dear," she whispered. " **You're** the one who entertains a handsome young man dressed in skin-tight leather every Friday, not me."

Marinette went cold for a moment before the heat of embarrassment flooded her. There was no way his extra acute hearing hadn't picked that up.

Her mother held up a tray of pastries and sweet breads. "Evening Chat," she called as Marinette took the tray.

"Good evening Sabine." He stood up and took the mugs of cocoa she offered up one-handed. "Has Mari shown you her new skirt? It's **amazing** ," he gushed.

Sabine laughed. "I saw it hanging on the mannequin earlier, but I haven't seen it on her."

Chat grinned, looking entirely too pleased. "She won't let anyone see it on, until she has the whole outfit done." He glanced at Marinette. "And she said I get to see it first."

"Seems fair," her mother agreed. "I'll just let you to get back to it." She winked. "Marinette, your father and I are turning in for the night, so please be mindful of noise. We'll see you in the morning."

Later, as they cuddled on her bed watching the Bollywood film he'd brought, because he was sure she'd love the costumes, she realized she hadn't fooled her parents either. His head rested high on her chest, the perfect placement for her to keep one hand nestled in his hair. He was half sprawled on top of her, and everything about the position was wonderful. She could smell his hair products and the distinctive magical leather of his costume. His weight, overlapping her, was comforting and a little distracting.

"You're my favorite Kitty," she murmured, giving him a squeeze.

"Hmmm." He nuzzled her neck. "You're my favorite Princess."


	2. Blushing Kitty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A peek at how Marinette's friendship with Chat has impacted Ladybug's patrols with him.

Ladybug had just settled on one of the Eiffel Tower's beams, her patrol finished, when her partner bounded into view. She smiled, enjoying the opportunity to watch the enormous leaps he was capable of at this point. They'd both come a long way in the last four years, but it was easier for her to see it in him. His natural grace was beautiful, especially since his pace was relaxed and loping, rather than the all-out sprint he employed when chasing akuma.

"Hey there Chaton," she called once he reached the tower.

He scaled it easily, not even breaking out his baton. "Evening Best Bug." He grinned.

Sunday night had been a joint patrol for years, and from the start, they tried to keep a little social time at the end. For all that they didn't know each other outside the mask, at least not knowingly, they were close. Their tight friendship was intentionally fostered, because they knew it made their partnership stronger.

"Have a nice weekend?" she asked, sliding down to dangle her legs off the edge into the cool evening air.

"Yeah." He looked so pleased about something. "I mean, I had to work most of it, but..." He shrugged.

In their first few months, she'd learned that he had a role in his family's business. He didn't love it, and it ate into his time far more than he liked, but he was trying to use it to reconnect with his father. As Marinette she'd learned just how strained that relationship was, and how much it hurt him. She privately suspected his home life was even worse than Adrien's, and that was saying something.

"You worked, the **whole** weekend?" She couldn't keep the dismay out of her voice. "Did you get any down time at all? Doesn't your father realize you need to stay healthy to do well on the Final Bac?"

Chat chuckled. "I'll do well on the Bac, or else, Bug." He leaned back against one of the supports. "It's expected. A given. And as such, not something he worries or even thinks about."

She stared at him, stunned beyond response. Yep. Definitely worse than Adrien's situation.

"But I did get to relax a bit. Had movie night, after all." That pleased expression was back.

It was totally cheating, but she couldn't help it. "So, movie night," she prompted. "You've been doing that for a while now."

He nodded, swinging his feet. "Always the best part of the week."

"Movie night is the best part of your week?" she demanded. "Either you're really easy to please, or those are some amazing films you're watching."

Laughing, he gently poked her shoulder. "Naaah. It's not about the **movies**. It's about the company."

She hadn't seen that particular look on his face in nearly a year, and she hadn't realized how much she missed it. He was one smitten Kitten, and she couldn't hold back her own smile. "So, you going to tell me about it? I mean, you've mentioned movie night before, but I just figured it was you and a rotating group of friends."

He shook his head. "Just one friend," he admitted bashfully. "She's always there when I need her, and... it's just kind of become our thing."

"Am I going to get to meet this girlfriend?" she asked casually.

"What?" He looked up, his eyes wide.

"I need to be sure she's good enough for my partner and best friend, after all." She nodded decisively.

"Uuuh." His cheeks below the mask had gone furiously pink. "She's just a friend," he mumbled.

"Sounds like more than just a friend," Ladybug said. "Weekly movie nights for... how long? It's been months."

"Year and a half, actually," he corrected quietly.

Ladybug laughed. "Yeah. That's quite a commitment. And you said she's there when you need her, so, what, you see her other times, too?"

He nodded reluctantly. "She's got a balcony, and an open-door agreement with me." The blush was back, and it was absurdly cute. "I usually see her once or twice a week outside of movie night."

"Uh huh." Ladybug nodded. "And what was this week's movie?"

"Devdas." He looked dazed, like he was remembering something. "She's really into fashion and design, and I thought she'd like the costumes."

"And how was it?" she asked knowingly. He'd fallen asleep, a soothing deep purr emanating from his chest.

"Uhhh..."

"Oh, were you making out instead of watching?" she asked trying to sound as eager as possible.

"No!" He sheepishly shook his head. "I... I fell asleep on her." He ducked his head in embarrassment. "She likes to play with my hair, and it's… uh… kinda relaxing."

"Do you fall asleep on her often?" she asked, curious about his perspective.

He shrugged. "Sometimes she falls asleep on me. And sometimes we're both thoroughly awake."

"Well it sounds like she's making sure you get to take it easy, so I approve of that."

Chat grinned at her. "She feeds me too." When Ladybug laughed, he continued. "And I swear she's a wonderful person. Hey, I can show you her vlog." He pulled out his baton, flipping up the screen. "Her personality really comes across well. I know you'll like her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this piece as a 30 minute speed-writing exercise without rewriting. It's a little light on detail, but I needed this interlude to be brief.


	3. Mewvie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat is rendered speechless at the sight of Princess' new outfit. Sabine ships it. Most of the class ships it. Akuma does not ship it... probably.

The Q and A took so much longer to film than usual.  She'd gone through the questions late on Wednesday to see if any were related.  There was an obvious running theme, and it wasn't a good thing.  Once she'd collated the list, she'd needed to go run off her rage.  That done, she stayed up too late Wednesday and Thursday plotting out responses and searching for the supporting documentation she wanted.  She got permission from Alya to include Ladyblog video excerpts, but choosing the right ones and fitting them in, took time and more tinkering than usual.

She and Tikki had just finished the closing credits, with citations, when she heard his polite tapping at her skylight.  Her sweet Kitty didn't deserve the put downs and hate directed at him.  He handled it well, but that didn't mean she had to allow that sort of trash to run unchecked on her vlog.

"Come in Kitty," she pushed herself away from her computer and stood up so he could get the full effect of her outfit.

The window opened and he dropped in.  "Evening prin--"  His eyes went huge as he gawked at her.  "--cess."  He took two steps closer, then circled around her, something in his gait distinctly predatory in nature.

"What's the matter," she teased.  "Cat catch your tongue?"

He grinned, showing a hint of his transformed top teeth, but didn't answer.

She stood still, delighted by his clear appreciation.  As he stalked behind her, she realized the low hum he was letting out was a purr.  She covered her mouth to hold back the giggle.  Even as Ladybug, she'd never heard him purr in approval.

"Princess," he murmured in her ear, much closer than she expected.

Her laughter was effectively squelched, replaced by pleasure and heat.  "See something you like?" she teased.

He pushed his face against her neck, eliciting a gasp, and nuzzled her like a cat marking his property.  "Yes.  I like it furry much."

She closed her eyes and leaned against him.  If she'd realized this was the reaction she could expect from this outfit, she would have made it months ago. When he slowly drew back and stepped in front of her, she was glad to see his cheeks were at least as pink as hers felt.  "Surprise! I finished it."  She tilted her head a bit, to draw his eyes to the band of leather around her neck.

One of his claws came up to gently run along the edge of what was more collar than necklace, before flicking the bell as she'd done to his so many times.  She shivered in response.  "I knew you could finish it. Was hoping it would be ready today, honestly."  He moved out of her immediate space.  "I had no idea how dangerous you could be, Princess."

She placed one hand on her chest, the fingers splayed.  "Me?" she asked innocently, batting her lashes at him.  "Dangerous?"

He let out a chuckle.  "Very," he insisted.  "Though I have to say I love seeing you in my colors."  With both hands, he gestured from her shoulders to the hem of her skirt.  "You make a spectacular Chat Noire."

"Thanks." She looked down at her black Mary Janes, not quite able to meet the intensity in his eyes.  "I'm glad you're happy with it.  I mean… since you inspired it, I was hoping you'd like it."  

" **Like** , is probably the greatest understatement I've ever heard."  He reached out to nudge her chin, encouraging her to look up.  "You're amazing, you realize that, right?  You got an idea, from practically nowhere, and you were able to turn it into a real physical thing." He caught the whimsical butterfly sleeve of her shirt between his thumb and forefinger.  "This would not be out of place in a high end fashion boutique."

"Silly Kitty." He'd demonstrated a knowledge of fashion that surprised her, so she couldn't completely brush him off.  But she also couldn't question. "Let's go get snacks.  Tonight's Q and A is a long one, and my favorite black cat is the topic."

"What?" He looked confused.

"It's all from questions people sent.  Don't worry.  I didn't let on I actually know you."  She'd never do anything that might risk their friendship or her family.  "Come on."  She lead him down to the family kitchen where her mother was already setting down a tray of end of the day bakery leftovers.

"Good evening Sabine," Chat said brightly.

"Hello Chat." Her mother looked up and gasped.  "Oh my.  Marinette." Her mouth went round as delight filled her face.  "Sweetie, it turned out just amazing."

"Isn't it though," Chat agreed.

Her mother laughed, tossing a wink at him.  "We'll I'd expect you to be happy with how it turned out."

"Yes, well," Marinette interrupted.  "On that note, we'll just grab our snacks."  As she was picking up the platter, her mother leaned over to whisper to her.

"I tucked some items of protective nature into your underwear drawer."  She glanced over at Chat.  "Just in case."  She patted Marinette on the shoulder before going to help the superhero with drinks.

"Oh my god," Marinette muttered.  It wasn't that she hadn't thought about such things.  The boy **had** grown up quite nicely, and that suit hid nothing.  But they weren't even dating or anything.  She knew some folks found the friends with benefits thing to work well for them, but she honestly wanted more than that with him.

"I really like your parents," Chat said as they took their usual chairs in front of her computer.  "I can see how much they care about each other, about you."

"They care about you, too," she pointed out.  They'd been very encouraging of this friendship, even when it was new and tentative.  And now, apparently, her own mother shipped Marichat.  What was her life?

He sighed, a happy smile on his face.  "Yeah.  It's really nice."

She stared at him a moment, realizing that caring parents were a novelty to him.  "I probably shouldn't say this, and I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but, Chat, your dad is a dick."  She turned away for a moment, an ache in her chest on his behalf.  "You deserve to be cherished.  You should feel like this every day.  You deserve it."

He held out his arms, making little grabbing motions with his fingers.  "Come here Princess," he said quietly.  When she did as he asked, he pulled her sideways onto his lap and hugged her close.  "Thank you for being so good to me."

"You're a wonderful person," she mumbled, tightening her arms around him. "If you find tonight's vlog upsetting, at all, we can stop it," she said, her forehead resting on his shoulder.  "There's no rule you have to watch the whole thing, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded and shrugged.  "But I admit, you've got me really curious."  He reached over and tapped her mouse.

"Hello everyone.  I'm Marinette, the Bobbin Bug."  She'd recorded the vlog while wearing her new outfit.  Seeing it on the screen gave her a fresh look at it, like it was someone else's design.  "For those who've been following me, you can see how I finished off the look with last week's Chat Noir suspender skirt.  It seemed super suitable for tonight, as you'll see in a moment."  She was happy with how it turned out, and surprised to realize it was a really good look for her.  

She had managed to look cheerful and friendly, like most of her videos, and that was a pretty significant accomplishment.  It was also the result of three takes, and some heavy coaching from Tikki.

"I'd like to start off by thanking those of you who asked questions related to sewing, my portfolio, and fashion training."  She held out two thumbs-up.  "You're the best, and I promise I'm going to answer in some upcoming vids."

"Unfortunately, there were quite a few people who decided that my invite for questions meant they could say inane and nasty things about Chat Noir in my feed."  She scowled.  "I'm not sure why anyone would do this, since I'm **obviously** a fan, and seriously, if you don't like my content, don't follow me.  You don't pay me, so you don't get to dictate my projects, designs, or decisions."

She held up a piece of paper with a large elaborate Q & A.  "But I'm going to answer those questions, not so much for the original posters, because they're probably such losers they won't actually watch this.  It's more for those who haven't formed an opinion on the matter, or who might be swayed."

"First question.   **Why does Chat inspire so many of your projects?** " She nodded.  "To be fair, this could be a legit question," she conceded.  "Like many artists, my inspiration comes from the world around me.  I made a bowler hat inspired by pigeons for a contest when I was fifteen."  She laughed, the audio sounding happy.  "I don't get to choose what's going to trigger an idea, but there's a good chance that it's something I like or something I've been exposed to or seen a lot."  She shrugged, her hands waving around a bit.  "My school has had a high rate of akumatization, so I see Chat Noir a little more often than most folks."

She grinned.  "That said, I still ultimately choose what to vlog, so why do I pick my Chat designs?  Gosh there are so many options here, so I'm just going to go with, he's awesome."

She slid some comic books around on her desk.  "Next, **why are you inspired by a lame sidekick.** "  She mimed gagging.  "Ew.  I get that comic books are all about a lead superhero working with a sidekick, but that's not the dynamic here."  The screen switched to video clips with voice-over.  "You can see it in these three vids from the Ladyblog."  She'd picked scenes from some of their hardest battles, the ones where their teamwork was most essential and apparent.  "Ladybug has also stated this fact numerous times. If you wanna piss off Ladybug by ignoring her feelings on this, that's your deal."

Without looking away from the monitor, Chat chuckled and gave Marinette a squeeze.

"Next question was actually a statement, **Chat Noir is so stupid.** "  Her eyebrows went up in astonishment.  " **Really**?  Are you insane or just an idiot?"  She shook her head.  "So I get that people **think** he's reckless, and he seems to not put thought into some of his actions, but that's just because he's so much smarter than the rest of us.  His brain is just faster."

The screen switched to a photo.  "Let's pull up a few stills and a vid, again compliments of the Ladyblog, as evidence."  The picture changed. "So I want you to pay attention to this look.  We see it in every akuma attack, both when he first arrives and in those cases where he and Ladybug have to abandon a plan and try something else." The next one was a clip that featured the expression and started advancing slowly, pausing between frames.  "In these three seconds, he has calculated the force he needs to launch himself from a dead stop, over to the next building, with a twist midway across to grab the flower off the akuma.   He's mapped his tragectory and identified a pattern to the akuma's flailing so he can avoid a hit." It played again in real time.  All that applied physics in three seconds.  Can you do that?   Of course not."  Her voice was dismissive.  "You're not Chat Noir."

"And for our last question or comment, **but his costume is so booooring.** " She whined through the last word, then paused and gave an extended raised-eyebrow look at her webcam.  "Black is classic.  It's a staple in design.  Sure, other colors show up and pretend to supplant it on occasion, but none ever succeed."  A series of photos featuring black designs on the catwalk scrolled across her screen. "These are from the last fifteen years, and you can see that in fashion, black is an essential we always come back to."

The last photo faded, and her face reappeared on screen.  "Maybe you don't enjoy watching a totally fit guy leap around in tight leather." She fanned at her face in an exaggerated manner.  "Or what looks like tight leather.  And I get that we all have preferences." She shrugged.  "I think we can all see where mine lie." She leaned back and waved at the camera.  "Okay, that's all for today's question and answer.  I'll be back with a new sewing video next Friday.  I'm Marinette, and thanks for watching Bobbin Bug."

When the end credits finished, they sat in silence for a few moments.  "Wow," he said, his voice soft.  "I think I like it when you defend me like that."  He relaxed his grip on her and leaned back to peer into her face.  "Especially in that outfit."

"It was all true."  She ran her hand into his hair, smiling when she could see how much an effort it took for him to not close his eyes and melt into her touch.  "You're amazing.  And I hate it when people don't see it.  When they think you're second to Ladybug."

He glanced away. "Oh.  The comments are rolling in already."  He reached for the mouse and scrolled down so they could both read them.

 **Ladyblogger:** No dissing our favorite black cat!  Damn girl, when's the wedding?

 **Sk8erGirl42:** Haters feel the burn our righteous class prez!

 **DJNee:** What is it with you and celebrity crushes on green-eyed blondes?

 **Rosy-Outlook:** I ship it.

 **Ladyblogger:** Marichat FTW!

 **StatisticallyImprobable:** Given Chat Noir's fondness for strong ladies with black hair, I calculate the odds strongly in Mari's favor (especially if she wears leather).  I'll be accepting bets Monday morning.

 **DJNee:** @Ladyblogger – no more love for Ladynoir?

 **Ladyblogger:** Bestie gets priority over heroes any day.

 **Paris_Princess:** I hope Chat Noir sees this. You two can date and leave Ladybug and Adrikins for me.

"Um…" Marinette stared at that newest comment, a bit queasy at the proposal for a threesome with Chloe and Adrien.

"Well that's never gonna happen," Chat muttered, minimizing her web browser and cutting off their view of the incoming comments.  "Hey," he interjected suddenly.  "Let's get a selfie.  I'll post it later, so people think I saw your video and stopped by."

She reached down to his lower back and tugged out his baton.  "Here you go."  She offered it to him.  "Pretty sure you have to be the one to use it."

For the first two, they smiled, their heads tilted together.  For the third, he surprised her with a kiss on the cheek.  She let out a gasp at the light brush of his warm lips.

"Sorry," he whispered.  "I should have asked."

She took in his flushed face and the nervous arching of his shoulders. "Oh."  She managed to find her voice.  "You mean like this?"  Cupping his face in both hands she slowly leaned in, letting her breath brush over him.  "May I kiss you?"

He answered with actions rather than words.  His touch was reverent, almost shy, and she suspected neither of them had a lot of experience with this.  It was warm and sweet, but only lasted a moment.  Then he was staring at her, with awe on his face.  "Cat got **your** tongue now, Princess?" he whispered.

"Yes please." She caught hold of his bell and tugged his lips back to hers.  She brushed her tongue across his lips, then eagerly delved into his mouth the moment he allowed it.

They were just getting the hang of it when her cell phone and his baton simultaneously went off, alerting them of an akuma attack in progress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the longest chapter of the work (I considered splitting it). Marinette's vlog in support of Chat where the story idea started.


	4. The Best Laid Plans of Chats and Bugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette acting as her own wingman. Chat is a hot mess (emphasis on both "hot" and "mess").

Ladybug reached the akuma zone after Chat.  Not a surprise, since she had to give him a three minute head start, and he tended to be faster than her when he was fresh and rested.  "Evening Chaton," she called as she aimed to land beside him.

"And a fine evening it **was** , too," he said.  "Any chance we can stomp this one in record time?"

"Sure can try," she agreed.  There was nothing she wanted more than a quick return to her room, so they could pick up where they'd left off.  Though now, they were probably going to have to talk before they could get back to any kissing.  "Oh.  It's movie night.  I hope it's not too much of an interruption."

Her Kitty growled, and she gawked at him.  That sound usually only came out when he was particularly pissed off.

"Ummm, so I guess it's a huge interruption, then," she stammered.  "Good movie tonight?"

He continued to glare at the akuma, his eyes tracking its movement and looking for its powers.  "It's not about the movie."

"Oh yeah." Why did she feel so breathless.  Holy hell.  She had to get a handle on herself.  "Let's take care of this so you can get back to your friend."

* * *

 

"Ugh," Chat Noir groaned as he sprawled next to her on the top of a random building.  The akuma had not cooperated with their plans.  It had taken hours.  They'd both had to detransform twice.  Since they hadn't used their special abilities on the last go, they had a little time to recover before heading home.  Both their kwami would need a good long rest after this detransformation, though.

"I second your 'ugh,' and raise you a fuck that," Ladybug mumbled.  It was so rare that she swore, it startled a laugh out of her partner.  "I totally loathe Hawkmoth right now.  This was **not** how I wanted my evening to go."

"Oh shit." Chat scrambled for his baton and checked the time.  Four thirty in the morning.  "Damn it."

"Too late to go back to movie night?"  She sat up and looked at him.  For most of the horrendous battle, she'd managed to completely forget about their kisses.  Being reminded now, made her all warm and happy. "Worried your friend will be upset?"

He rolled to a sitting position, his knees up where he could wrap his long arms around them.  "She's kind of more than a friend," he admitted, resting his chin on his knees.  

"Girlfriend?" she prompted.  In less serious instances, she would have been tempted to tease him, but she could read him well enough to know that wouldn't go over well at all.

He snorted.  "I wish."  He stared out at the city.  "I was hoping we could talk about it tonight.  I mean, I'm pretty sure she likes me the way I like her."  He groaned again.  " **Like** isn't anywhere strong enough."  He pounded his forehead against his knees.

"Hey, hey! Stop that."  She caught him by the hair on the back of his head. "Don't beat yourself up over this.  You can pay her a visit later this weekend to have that conversation, yeah?"

"I'm going to have to start off with an apology for ditching her in the middle of a kiss!  How tacky is that?" he demanded.  "Ohmygod, she kissed me.  I kissed her!"  He stared at her in panic, his green cat eyes huge.

"You didn't have the chance to process this, did you?" she asked, sighing. Her poor emotionally stifled Kitten wasn't used to having the freedom to feel things.  It usually took him some time to adjust if the emotions were particularly strong.  On top of that, he was exhausted. She had to help him before he did something stupid or self-damaging. "Do you attend movie night as Chat or as your civilian self?"

"Chat." His eyes were darting around as if he was trying to find a way out of a trap.

"So she knows you have **this** job, this commitment, right?" she asked.

He nodded, his frantic eye movements slowing a little.

"And she's been friends with you for a while, right?"  Even before movie night became a regular thing, he'd been visiting her balcony for a while.

He nodded again.

She squeezed his shoulder.  "Honestly Chat, I think she'll understand.  If she really cares for you, she's not going to hold this against you."

"Really?" he sounded so uncertain.

"Really." She patted his back.  "Now, I think you need to get home and get some sleep, so you can try to sneak in a visit with her this weekend. Okay?"

He nodded.  "Yeah. Okay.  Thanks, LB.  You're the best."

* * *

 

Sunday evening had fallen, and Ladybug was out on the Eiffel Tower waiting for Chat Noir.  He hadn't managed to stop by Marinette's all weekend, but she knew enough about his life to be disappointed in the **situation** , not him.  She didn't want to wait in limbo any longer, if it could be avoided.  She knew he liked her, but the uncertainty was a distraction she didn't need during Final Bac and portfolio preparations.

It was only dusk yet, so she easily caught the black streak of her partner darting across rooftops.

"Hey there, Chat," she called, as he flowed up the side of the tower.  "Work things out with your movie friend?"

He shook his head. "I had to work all weekend.  Again."  He rolled his eyes. "I overslept Saturday morning, of course, and looked like trash anyway, so my father had a tantrum and moved everything to Saturday afternoon and evening, and a full day today."  He sighed.  "I'd really like to break something right now."

She felt bad.  Not having the inside intel like she did, he was much more of a mess. She couldn't let him go into the week like this.  "So you really like this girl?"

He nodded.  "It might be that other word that starts with L," he admitted.

"Oh.  Wow." Being her own wingman was so not fair.  "What do you want out of this… thing you two have going?"

He sighed.  "I want to be there to cheer her up when she's had a crappy day, and put bandages on her fingertips when she can't keep her needles from stabbing her.  I want to celebrate her successes, and she's amazing, so I know there's going to be a lot of that.  I want to support her when she's inspired or frantically trying to meet a deadline, and tuck her in when she gets too sleepy to keep designing.  I want to relax and watch movies, and snuggle… she's the best snuggler, LB." He sprawled as he leaned back against an upright beam, his expression dreamy.

She giggled.  "So is snuggling as physical as you want to get?" she asked slyly, nudging his foot with her elbow.  Oh wow.  That got a reaction.  Had she ever seen him that red before?

"Uhhm… it kinda depends on what she wants," he mumbled.

She grinned at him. "Assuming she was up for anything you wanted, what would that include?"

He spluttered incoherently for a moment.  "I'll have you know I'm a gentleman," he finally retorted.  "I'm not going to resort to crude suppositions and gossip about my Princess."

"I'm not asking you to be explicit, about Princess," she insisted.  "No need to share your kinks.  That's for you two to figure out." She stood up in preparation of departure.  "I'm just asking in general, and you don't even have to answer me.  But it's something you should be thinking about so you can discuss it with her."

He groaned and covered his eyes.

"You liked kissing her, right?"  When he nodded, she continued.  "So start with that.  You want kisses?"

"She's… ah, mentioned that she's bi, so I know she falls roughly in the same place on the scale as me."  He let out a sigh as he got to his feet.  "I want to kiss her until her knees go weak.  I want to caress her in a way that makes her forget everything but me.  I want to watch her unravel under my touch, and hold her gasping and trembling form as she recovers."

Ladybug staggered, her foot stepping off the beam she stood on.  Casting her yo-yo toward the top, she suspended her fall and rebounded back to the spot she'd accidentally vacated.

He raised an eyebrow at her.  "Have a nice trip?"

"Yeah, yeah." She waved off his joke.  "Holy shit, Chat!  You need to tell her that, because… that's **seriously** hot."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies on the delay with this one. It was mostly written, but then I got really sick Sunday (like go to the hospital for IV fluids and treatment sick), and I've felt like a slug ever since. I initially planned for five chapters, but am now expecting to go to at least six. Chapter 5 is mapped out, and partially written. Chapter 6 only exists in my head. Thanks for reading!


	5. Time for a Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the S.S. Marichat officially raises anchor and sets sail, to Tom and Sabine's glee.  
> This is kinda long. Conversations like this require set up and interplay that really bumps word count.

Marinette dropped into her room and scrambled to her closet.  She yanked off the plain t-shirt and shorts she'd been wearing earlier and hastily pulled on the short sleeved green tunic and black capris.  The top was a swing style, with cat ears and whiskers embroidered in black on the left side of the upper chest.  The assembly had been quick enough, but the embroidery was still a work in progress.  She only had paw prints around the right sleeve, and half as many as she planned for around the swishing hem.

"What is it Marinette?" Tikki asked, dropping to the cookie plate on her desk.  "Why are you changing?"

"Chat... is..."  She tugged off her socks.  "Coming... over."  She scooped up the discarded clothes and dumped them in her hamper.  "He feels really bad about how he had to leave Friday."  She opened her sketch book and picked up a pencil.  This particular design was giving her trouble, though she had a hunch it would be worth it in the end.  "And his father made him work all weekend, so he couldn't come back before."

"And he told you he's coming over?" Tikki asked, a little surprised.

Marinette shook her head, sending her ponytails swaying.  She reached up and yanked them out.  "He was pretty worked up about it, so I sort of suggested we cancel patrol so he could take care of his personal business."  She held up one hand, expecting Tikki to chastise the lax work ethic.  "I promise, this is a one-time thing.  I won't make a habit of it, but I couldn't let him go into the week this way."

Tikki smiled.  "It's okay, Marinette.  You're always such a hard worker.  I'm glad you're watching out for him."  Her little face turned puzzled.  "How did you beat him here?"

She blushed.  "I may have sent him on an errand to delay him?"  She didn't need flowers as proof of affection, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

"I'll just go hide then," Tikki said happily, grabbing her cookie, and drifting away to her nest.

Marinette had only just returned to her design when there was a knock at her skylight.  She looked up, met his eyes, and grinned.  "Hey Kitty," she called.  "Come on in."  She took the opportunity to darken a line on the design, letting him drop in, before turning to him.  

He bowed, one hand behind his back.  "Good evening, Princess."  He held out a cheerful pink bouquet.  "I wanted to apologize for running out like I did on Friday, and for not being able to come back."

"Oooh!" she gasped.  Even knowing it was coming, it was a very pretty collection of flowers, and she hadn't been the recipient of flowers very often.  She took the bouquet in both hands.  "Can you stay a little?  To talk?"

He nodded, his lower lip caught between his teeth.  Ugh.  Not fair.

"Please sit down."  She popped to her feet and headed for the stairs.  "I'm going to get a vase."  She paused before heading down.  "Cookies and milk okay, or are you more hungry than that?"

His smile finally relaxed.  "That's more than fine, Princess."

"Good.  Now sit."  She pointed to the chaise.  "I'll be right back."  She dashed down the stairs in a clatter, startling her parents.  "Chat's here."  She noticed their eyes had been drawn to the flowers.  "Uhm.  I just need a vase.  And snacks."  She scurried to the kitchen and rummaged in the cupboard a moment.  "We're going to talk for a bit, but I promise he'll go home at a reasonable time," she assured them.  "We both have school tomorrow."

"So," her mother drawled.  "Just **friends** are you?"

When she looked up, she saw pure glee on her father's face.  "Let me make up a plate of cookies for you and the boy who brought you flowers."

"Ugh."  Marinette rolled her eyes and sagged against the counter.  She really hadn't thought this through.  "No interrupting, okay? I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."

"Cocoa tonight, Marinette dear?" her mother asked, heading for the refrigerator.

"Just milk. Thank you."  She settled the flowers in the vase and headed back to the stairs, much slower than her earlier descent.

When she got back to her room, Chat was looking at the design she'd been pretending to work on.  "This one giving you trouble Princess?" he asked.

Setting the vase next to her monitor she looked at the page.  "Yes.  How can you tell?"

"You've done a lot of erasing."  He gestured to the faint and faded lines she hadn't been able to fully remove.  "When you have an idea that's coming easily, you hardly erase at all."

She heard her parents' feet on the steps and went  to meet them so they could leave quicker.

"Evening Chat," her father said, beaming as he held out a tray of cookies.  A mix of Chat's favorites, she noticed.

"Oh, good evening, Tom."  Chat took the tray.  "Thank you so much. These are the best."

"It's always so nice to see you," her mother said, handing Marinette two glasses of milk.

Marinette tried to use her face to tell her mother to tone it down, but she was clearly ignored.

"You should join us for dinner one of these days," her mother went on.  "Let Marinette know what works for you, okay?"

"I'd love to, Sabine.  I'll let Mari know what I can commit to."  Chat nodded, his high society training kicking in.  She'd seen it enough that it no longer seemed odd.  Adrien could do the same thing, switch from a goofy boy to a straight up gentleman in an instant.  "I really appreciate the invitation."

"We'll just leave you two be," her father said, pulling down the trap door. "See you in the morning, cupcake."

Once they were gone, Marinette sighed and looked at Chat.  "Sorry.  They saw the flowers and got a **little** overexcited."  She started to wave her hands around, but remembered the glasses of milk just in time.  She put them down before she could get distracted and make a mess.  "Uhm.  Thanks for the flowers.  They're really pretty."

"Not half as pretty as you are," he answered, without hesitation.  He grinned.  "You're in my colors again.  I like it.  Show me?"

Marinette held out her arms and did a little spin.  It was the sort of thing she could manage now, despite her still somewhat klutzy tendencies.  "I got the idea for the tunic when I was working on my other Chat Noir shirt.  And it made me think that my portfolio would benefit from a Chat Noir collection."  She glanced shyly at him.  "Is that okay?"

He nodded eagerly.  "Very much okay," he insisted.  "More than okay."

Giggling, she ran her fingers over the embroidery.  "It's not quite done.  Doing this bit by hand takes a while."  She shrugged.  Eventually, she hoped to have access to one of those computer assisted embroidery machines.  "But I wanted to wear it to see how it felt, make sure it moved like I wanted."  Would it be too much?  Naah.  Her Kitty deserved a bit of an ego petting.  "And it reminded me of you, which was a definite bonus."

His cheeks went bright pink; perhaps it was a bit much.

"I'm going to do matching green embroidery on the capris."  She reached down to touch the hem.  "But I need to go shopping.  I don't have floss the right color."  She straightened up and took a moment to assess the situation.  The tension was gone, but there was still so much awkward between them.  "May I hug you?"  Ergh.  That was more blunt than she'd intended.  "It's just... I'm a little nervous.  And I think you might be nervous too.  And I know we need to talk, but getting started is hard, and..."  Oh god.  She was babbling.  She hadn't done this since she'd gotten reasonable about Adrien.  How was she supposed to get from this state of uncertainty to the point where he could say all that romantic stuff he'd told her on the Eiffel Tower?

The terrible spiral of her thought process was cut off by his warm arms pulling her close.  She threw her arms around his chest.  "We're okay, right?" she asked.  

"Yeah," he whispered in her ear.  "Maybe more than okay."  He stepped back and took her hands.  "So, umm.  I agree. We need to talk.  But I think it's good, all right?"

She nodded.  "Yeah."  She tugged him over to the chaise, ignoring the snacks for the moment.  "I'm glad you were able to come see me before the weekend ended.  It seems a good way to start the week."

"I'm not sorry we kissed," he said, leaping straight into the fray.  "I've wanted to do that for a while, honestly, and it was really nice."  He looked down at their tangled fingers.  "I'm just sorry an akuma showed up and I had to leave."  He let out a chuckle.  "Worst timing, ever."

"It wasn't your fault."  She squeezed his fingers for a moment.  "Yeah, it sucked that you had to leave just as things were going so nicely… uhm."  She was probably as red as her suit.  "I really liked kissing you.  And being kissed by you.  So… yeah."

"So you weren't mad at me?"  Hopefulness tinged his voice.  "I felt terrible, not being able to come back, but the akuma took forever."

"Definitely not mad at **you** ," she insisted with a quick head shake.  "I know I have to share you with Paris."

He pulled her into a swift hug, his lips brushing her forehead.  "I knew you were wonderful, Princess, but I didn't realize how understanding you'd be."  He released her, and went back to holding her hands. "Sorry for misjudging you."

"Sooo, putting that behind us," she said, trying to channel her Ladybug courage.  "Where does that put us?  I mean, we kissed, and honestly, I'd like that to be a regular thing."  She reached out and nudged some of his hair out of his face with one finger.  "I'm kind of crazy about you, Kitty."

He wore a giddy and slightly surprised expression, and she wondered if he really hadn't realized how much she liked him.  "Well, I'm totally crazy about you, Princess."

"Oh, good." She chewed on her lip for a moment.  "I know we can't exactly go out to dinner and the movies, but, um, what do you think about us maybe dating?  Each other."

"That's my favorite idea ever."  He scooped her onto his lap, very much like he had Friday night.  "Can we be exclusive?"

She nodded, her cheeks tight from smiling so much.  "That's what I want, yeah."

He pressed his face against her neck, and she wondered how cat-like he was when he wasn't transformed.  Did he have cat tendencies before he was chosen or did those come later?  "I'm glad we both want the same things," he whispered.  "We should probably discuss a few details before I kiss you again… if you want me to, that is."

"Communication is important," she agreed with a giggle.  "And I don't want to mess this up."  She ran the flat of her hand down his back and back up, careful to avoid his hair, since that would make talking difficult for him.  "You're one of my best friends, and… I think we'll work out as more than friends, but if we don't, I want to be sure we don't lose the friendship."

He withdrew his face from her neck.  "Yes."  He beamed at her.  "It's nice to see how much we're already on the same page."

She nodded.  "Are there any specific concerns you have, or things you want to discuss?" She reached up to lay her palm against his cheek.

"Just a few." He looked nervous again.  "I mostly want to make sure you know what you're signing up for, with me.  Truth in advertising and all."

"I **do** know you pretty well," she pointed out.

He snorted.  "This isn't about my personality or mess of a family life."

"Okay." She waited a moment.  "So disclosure time, then?"

His head bobbed.  "I can't tell you who I am… not yet."

"That's fair.  And I expected it, to be honest."  She was more than a little nervous about that eventuality.

"Don't get me wrong," he said quickly.  "I want to.  I really want you to see all of me as I really am, but it's not like I'm worried about you disliking the more subdued civilian side of me."

"Good." She patted his cheek.  "I'm sure it won't change how I feel about you."

He sighed, and his expression made it clear he was relieved.  "I just want to keep you safe.  Minimize any risk to you."  He closed his eyes for a moment.  "The idea of you being in danger is terrifying to me."

She hugged him.  "I'll keep myself safe as I can, so you don't have to worry."

"So the media, and a lot of our fans, ship Ladybug and me."  His forehead scrunched up in concern.

"Ladynoir," she supplied, amused that it wasn't that far from the truth.

He nodded.  "Nothing we do stops it, and I don't want you to be… I don't know how to put this without sounding egotistical or catty…"

"It's okay.  I get it."  She slipped her hand over his at her hip. "Being a public figure can add the stress of lies and supposition to a relationship."  She grinned at his surprise. "One of my best friends is a supermodel, remember?  I've learned a lot from him."

"Yeah. Okay."  He took a deep breath.  "Another detail is that things go wrong for me at a higher than average rate.  I have no idea how we've even gotten to this point."  He gestured to the two of them.  "I should have broken something important to you, or offended you horribly in some way by now.  And I'm not being melodramatic or misdirecting blame when I say this, but I have the world's worst luck."

"Well, you are the embodiment of bad luck, right?" she asked, a playful smile tugging at her lips. "It's your power, isn't it?  I've heard that cataclysm is concentrated misfortune."

He nodded.

"I think we've experienced it in little bits in the past," she went on.  "It was **definitely** in play Friday.  I mean, you kiss a girl for the first time and then have to run off.  That's about as bad as your luck can get, yeah?"

"I guess." He shrugged.  "Are you sure you don't mind?  I mean… that's sort of how it's going to be.   Things will go wrong.  There will be times I have to leave abruptly, and odds are that those will be times when we least want to be interrupted."

"I can live with the inconveniences if it means I get to be with you."  Oh hell, that sounded sappy.  "I may be a clumsy mess, but I've always had pretty good luck."  She knew she needed to offer some realistic reassurance, too.  "And sure, I may get frustrated or annoyed sometimes when it happens, but you're worth it."  

"Last question, I think," he said, giving her a squeeze.  "Are you okay with how much time I spend with Ladybug?" he asked.  "It's a lot, and that isn't..."

Her finger covered his mouth, stopping the flood of words spilling out.  "Ladybug is one of your very best friends.  I've always known that."  She moved her hand off his lips to caress his cheek.  "You're allowed to have friends that aren't me.  You're allowed to spend time with them, without me."  She tapped his nose lightly.  "And it doesn't matter if those friends are women or men."

"But everyone says…"

She shook her head, cutting him off.  "The media and advice columnists are wrong. The people conditioned by it are brainwashed.  I trust you, Chat." She leaned back.  "I'm ridiculously fond of you, and I'm not going to get jealous of Ladybug.  I'm not going to let who you are and what you are obligated to do, become a problem for us."

The happiness on his face was infectious.

"Look, I've told you all about Alya, Nino, and Adrien.  They're really important to **me**."  She shrugged.  "I'm not going to feel guilty spending time with any of them when you aren't with me.  I'm not going to start dating any of them if I've got a commitment with you.  I mean, that's part of the agreement of exclusive dating." She took one of his hands in both of hers, lightly caressing his claws and knuckles.  "You help Paris all the time, and I'm so proud of you."  She shook her head.  "I'm not going to be bitter about you doing your thing."  She met his eyes.  "Would you be jealous that I'm helping my friends come up with a way to help Adrien get out of modeling?"

He tensed for a moment and gave her a quizzical look.  "You're trying to get Adrien Agreste **out** of modeling?"

She giggled and nodded.  "Not a lot of people know this, but he doesn't love it. I mean, I could see him staying a part time model, if nothing else to keep some connection with his father.  He doesn't have an attachment to any of his extracurriculars, he just does them because he's trying so hard to make his father happy.  At his own expense.  I don't think he knows what he wants to do, because he's never been allowed to explore his options."

Chat stared at her with something like awe.

"Sorry, that was a tangent.  But what I'm trying to say is that we both have activities and important people outside of each other.  And that's okay.  Maybe someday we'll be able to share all of that, or not.  But right now I'm fine with this, if you are."

"Yeah." His smile was happy.  

"Oh, and I need you to promise you aren't going to tell Adrien about that.  It's a secret."

"I swear I will not tell Adrien Agreste anything about this," he promised, his hand over his heart.  "Umm.  Do you have any questions or things we need to talk about?"

She thought a second.  "Just one.  Exactly how secret does this need to be?"

He sighed.  "That's a really good question."

"I kind of have to tell my parents," she admitted.  "They… er…"

"Are they going to hate me?" he asked, his whole body going tense.

She had to slap a hand over her mouth to shut down her laughter.  "Oh god no. They've been trying to encourage this for months.  In a **not** subtle way."

"Really?" Once again, he seemed caught off guard by her parents and the relationship she had with them.

"Ha.  My mother put a box of condoms in my underwear drawer on Friday.  And then she happily told me about them, just in case you and I needed them." Her face went hot.  She hadn't meant to tell him about that quite yet.  Sex talk didn't make her squeamish.  If it had, Alya would have beaten that out of her.  But to bring it up at the beginning of a new relationship seemed… a bit forward.

Chat dropped his head to her shoulder and his body shook as he laughed.  It took a while before he could talk again.  "Princess, I love your mother."  He raised his head to meet her eyes.  "If my father thought I was interested in someone romantically, I suspect he would react by over-scheduling me, shipping me out of the country, or trying to dig up dirt on them."

"I'm content to not meet him any time soon, then," she said firmly.

"So, about your friends…"  He took a deep breath.  "I think it would be safe to let them know you're dating someone, but not who, not yet. At some point, maybe you can tell the people you really trust, or if we decide it's safe to reveal my identity, they can know about my civilian side."  He shrugged.  "It's not perfect, I know. But I think we just need to be careful."

She nodded.  Alya wouldn't love it, but she already knew about Marinette's long-standing movie night with a boy whose name she wouldn't disclose.  "I agree."  They sat in silence for a while, much like any other snuggle session.

"We have school tomorrow."  His tone was reluctant.  "I shouldn't keep you up too late."

"Yeah," she agreed.  "Can I have a goodnight kiss?"

Once again, her diligent Kitty, suited actions for words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's going to be at least one more chatpurr, possibly two. Thanks for reading!


	6. Ameowzing Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette shows off her Chat Noir style at school and Adrien can't handle it.

"Why didn't you tell me Chat Noir stopped by for a selfie?" Alya demanded, thrusting her phone in Marinette's face first thing Monday morning.

"Oh!  He posted it?" she asked.  She'd ignored the notifications from her vlog that morning in an effort to be on time.  "I wasn't sure if it turned out.  He had to run off and fight that akuma right after he took it."  It was a super cute photo, one of the first two, so he wasn't kissing her cheek.  "I wonder if he'll send it to me in high res."

Alya rolled her eyes.  "And what did the black cat think of your outfit?"

"He liked it." She smirked.  "He said something about appreciating being defended by someone wearing his colors."

"I'll bet he did.  So when do **we** get to see our sweet cinnamon roll wearing leather?"  Alya raised her eyebrows.  "I expect it could cause quite the stir."

"Wait, am I the cinnamon roll?  I thought that was Adrien."  Though she'd moved on from her long time crush, the idea of Adrien in leather was appealing.  Oh.  Did this mean she had a thing for leather?

"Adrien's adorkable," Alya corrected, crossing her arms.  "Are we going to have to wait for a special event before we get to see you decked out as Chat Noir's hottest fan?"

Marinette laughed as she unfastened the toggles on her coat.  "You mean this?" She held the coat wide open, showing off the outfit that had rendered her Kitty speechless on Friday.

"Yes!" Alya squealed, grabbing her friend's coat before she could close it again.  "Oh my god.  That is amazing.  You really outdid yourself, girl."  She let go.  "Let's go inside so you can take off that coat.  I want to catch people's reactions to it."

"Sounds fun," Marinette agreed, charging up the steps.  "You need to record them, though, so I can see them later, okay."

"You better believe it," Alya agreed, keeping pace.  "Say, what did your mystery friend think of it?" she asked, leaning against the bank of lockers while Marinette picked out what she needed.

She felt the heat in her cheeks and turned away, but not fast enough.

"That good, huh?" Alya asked with a laugh.  "What, did he confess his undying love for you or something?"

"Or something," Marinette muttered, peeking out from behind her civics text book.

Alya shrieked. " **What** are you talking about?  What happened?"  Her eyes were wide and her smile was enormous.

"Uh…" After Chat left, she'd thought about how to break the news to her best friend, and she'd decided to wing it.  Probably a bad idea.  "He kissed me?  Uhm… and we're dating now."  She ducked back down behind her book.

"Yes, yes, **yes**!"  When she looked up, Alya was bouncing in a circle.  "I mean, oh no," she stopped suddenly.  "You're sinking my Marichat ship."  She cackled.  "I bet there will be fanfics by the end of the week, and now none of them will ever be canon."

Marinette giggled, shaking her head and wishing for just a moment she could tell her bestie that her new ship **was** canon.  She'd gotten used to the idea of being the subject of fanfics as Ladybug, and she just avoided it all.  It was best not to know what people thought she and Chat might be up to.

Alya raised her phone and tapped at it.  "Okay girl.  Tell us a bit about this hot new look you're sporting today."

Marinette struck the sassy schoolgirl pose she'd seen in pretty much every fall fashion spread ever.  Then she relaxed and grinned.  "This is the first in a Chat Noir-inspired collection I'm working on for my portfolio."

"You're making a Chat Noir **collection**?" Alya asked, sounding impressed.

Marinette nodded. "I should have the next outfit done in a few days."

"Does the black cat of Paris know about this?" Alya had gone into reporter mode.

"I got his seal of a-paw-rooval this weekend."  She could hardly wait to see his reaction to her punning in this outfit.  "He stopped by after seeing my troll smashing vlog post, so I asked if it'd be okay."

"Here come the boys," Alya whispered.  "Keep telling me about the outfit so I can catch their expressions."

Marinette ran her thumb under one of the suspenders, down to the button.  "As you can see, I went with kitty buttons and green contrast stitching." She dragged her fingertips over a seam.  "And I finished with a few accessories that tie it all together and really evoke the spirit of Chat Noir."  She tilted her head and flicked the bell at her neck.

There was a sudden thump of something hitting the ground, followed by, "Dude!"

Marinette turned her head to see graceful Adrien sprawled in a heap.  From the look of it, Nino had gotten out of the way just in time to avoid going down as well.  "Oh, Adrien," Marinette called, worried about her friend.  She'd fallen often enough to be used to it, but it still hurt and she'd never seen him do such a klutzy thing before.  "Are you okay?"  She walked over and crouched in front of him, mindful of her short skirt.

He stared up at her, his face completely red, before hiding behind his hands and mumbling unintelligibly.

"Thanks Mari," Nino teased sarcastically.  "I think you broke him."

Marinette shook her head and turned back to her model friend.  "Adrien, are you hurt?"

He shook his head. "Oh, please save me, Chat Noire," he begged, clasping his hands together and gazing at her as if he was a princess and she was his knight.

She reached down with both hands.  She was strong even outside of the suit, but he was not a small guy.  She pulled him to his feet and shot him a wink. "Never thought a model citizen like you would fall for little old me."

"Uhh, buh," he responded stupidly, his mouth opening and closing but failing to connect with his brain.

She blinked a couple of times, concerned for her friend, and  ignoring the way Nino howled with laughter.  "Hey," she said gently, resting a hand on his shoulder.  "Are you all right?  Did you hit your head or anything?"

"My head... Didn't I…"  He closed his eyes and collected himself.  "I didn't hit my head," he said slowly.  "Guess I'm just a bit… tired.  Yeah.  Didn't get enough sleep this weekend.  Had to work.  A lot."  He seemed to realize he was babbling.  "So… how was your weekend P-Marinette?"  He stammered out her name.

"It was wonderful."  Thinking about everything that happened since she'd left school Friday, made her happy.

"Yeah," he agreed, dreamily.

"Our girl has big news from the weekend," Alya jumped in, hooking Nino's arm with hers.  "She and Mr. Mystery Movie Night are now a couple."

"Does this mean we finally get to meet him?" Nino asked.

"Not yet," Marinette said, apologetically.  "He's got to keep a low profile a bit longer.  But I know you guys will love him."

"Congratulations, Marinette," Adrien said.  Perhaps his caffeine had kicked in. "You always sound like you have a really nice time with him, and I like to hear you're happy."

"Thanks." She beamed at him.  "He does make me happy."

"So how good a kisser is he?" Alya asked as they headed for their first class.

Adrien dropped his messenger bag.  "Oops.  Sorry.  Just really clumsy this morning."

"Pfft," Nino chuckled.  "You're distracted bro."

"Maybe," he admitted quietly.

"C'mon Mari, I need deets," Alya begged.  "You said you kissed, how was it?"

"Amazing," Marinette answered shyly.  "Definitely a good way to spend time together."

* * *

 

Whatever had been wrong with Adrien didn't go away.  He'd literally stumbled a few times Tuesday.  And on Wednesday, when she debuted her second item form the Chat Noir Collection, he'd been a stuttering mess for most of the day.  The trips, mishaps, and less articulate than normal behavior remained a subtle constant.

Nino teased him and Adrien tried to brush off Marinette's concern, but she wasn't having any of it.  She was worried about him.  It had been three weeks now, and he just wasn't himself.  With Final Bac creeping up on them, she was afraid he was going to have some sort of breakdown.  So she texted Alya and Nino, asking them to decline her invite to lunch so she could get him alone.  None of them were good at deflecting a Marinette Intervention, and it was time to give that a shot.

They gathered at her locker at the start of lunch, as usual.  "My parents have a new experimental herbed bread ready for taste testing," Marinette announced with a grin.  "Who wants to join me for lunch?"

"You know I'm a sucker for herbed bread," Adrien said with a grin.  "I'm in."

"I'd love to," Alya said, sounding apologetic.  "But I forgot my investigative reporting assignment at home, so I'm gonna have to pass."

"Well dang it," Nino said, looking at Alya.  "I wanted to try to talk up this club I want to take you to this weekend."

Alya shrugged.  "So come with me."  She looked up and winked at Marinette.  "Adrien will keep Mari company and test out the bread.  And she can bring us samples after lunch."

"Sounds great," Marinette said quickly before Adrien tried to modify the plan to include everyone.   "Come on model boy.  I have carbs for you."

Adrien laughed, a happy sound that reminded her of Chat.  Stray thoughts of her boyfriend could perk her up when she was having a rough day and made a good day better.

Before long, the two of them were settled at her desk with their lunch.  As she watched her blond friend, she realized he looked more relaxed than she'd seen him in weeks.  "Hey Adrien, you know you can talk to me if something's bothering you, right?"

He straightened up sharply, almost knocking over his glass of milk.  "Uhh... yeah?"

She pushed aside her plate and rolled her chair closer to him.  "I'm worried about you.  You've been... not yourself lately."

He blinked a couple times, nervousness clear on his face.  That alone was odd.  Adrien had an excellent social mask and didn't let emotions show if he didn't want to.  It made her breath catch.  What was wrong with him?  Was he sick?  Had his father done something?

She caught one of his hands, and trapped it between both of hers.  "I'm not going to make you talk about anything you're not ready to share, but..."  She sighed.  "I need to know, are you okay?"

His gulp was audible.  "Yeah.  I'm okay."

"Are you safe?"  This was one of those times that creativity was really not helpful; she kept imagining horrible circumstances at the root of his behavior.

He nodded.  "I'm safe."

"And would you tell me if you weren't?"  She looked straight into his beautiful green eyes.

"Yeah."  He took a quick breath.  "I wouldn't lie to you, Mari, even if I can't tell you exactly what's going on with me."

She squeezed his hand and let go.  "And can you?" she asked.  "Tell me what's going on?  You can be as vague and generic as you want."

He folded his hands together, fiddling with his silver ring.  "Maybe."  He seemed to be considering it.  "There's... this girl I like."  Unbidden, a look of happiness washed over his face.  "And I need to tell her something about myself that's... it's not well known."

"Okay," she prompted, relieved he was finally talking.  

"The more I'm with her, the more I think she needs to know, but... I'm worried she won't like it.  That she'll be mad at me."

"Is it something you could've told her earlier?"  With a little drop in her stomach, she thought about Chat, and the possibility that she was sabotaging their relationship, both relationships, by not revealing herself.

He shook his head.  "Definitely not."  He sighed.  "Technically, I'm not supposed to tell her ever.  But that feels wrong."

Boy could she relate.  "That's a quandary, for sure."  Maybe helping him figure this out would help her with her own issue.  "Do you trust her with this secret?  If you tell her, do you think she'll get mad enough to leak it?"

"She'd never do that," he insisted waving his hands.  "She's sweet and wonderful and always puts other people before herself.  If she gets mad, it'll be at me, but she'd never try to hurt me."

That was a relief.  She knew she could trust Chat, even if he was upset with her.  "What's holding you back?"

"I'm afraid she'll hate me.  That she won't want to be around me anymore, and... I really like her, Mari.  I'm not sure I could handle that."  He looked away.  "I'm not very good at dealing with loss, especially when it comes to people."

She nodded and thought for a moment.  "I think you should tell her.  If it's causing you this much stress, I think it's really what you need to do."  She totally needed to tell Chat.  What if she'd already waited too long?  "Don't blurt it out, though.  It sounds like it's something you should use some of that famous Adrien Agreste finesse on.  But I think… if it's really important, really serious, you shouldn't try to sugar coat it or compensate."

He looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Don't suddenly give her a gift or bring her flowers if that's not already your norm," she explained.  "You don't want it to look like you're trying to buy her understanding or acceptance.  Just explain the situation, why you had to wait, and try to be supportive if she needs some time to be okay with it."

He let out a long sigh.  "Thanks Mari.  That's really good advice."

It was?  Oh.  It was.  Well at least she knew what she needed to do now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go, and it's about half written. Thanks for reading! And to those who keep commenting - I appreciate it. You're awesome.


	7. Time for a Chat 2.0

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Serious discussion, surprises, and snuggles.

Friday's standing date night had turned into a good opportunity for dinners with her parents and boyfriend.  They were on their third such dinner since they started dating.  Absorbed with worries about how she was going to come clean to him, Marinette let Chat and her parents carry the conversation.  

The observation gave her a new perspective, and she appreciated her parents all the more. They weren't at all put off by the fact that their daughter's sweetheart showed up in magical leather, cat ears, a tail, and a mask.  They weren't bothered that they didn't know the young man under the suit.  Their interactions were friendly and included a mix of gentle teasing and supportive comments.  She was going to have to make sure they knew how much she appreciated them.  But that could wait until tomorrow.

This week's video was the first of two on another new piece of the Chat Noir collection.  Thanks to Alya's boost of the Bobbin Bug followed by a bit of her interview from school, Marinette's following had risen sharply.  Fortunately, most of the new folks were super excited about her hero-themed designs.  She'd been getting more shared photos and response videos than ever before.

After watching the video of the design, measurements, and pattern layout, Chat pushed himself back from her desk turned toward her.  "You okay Princess?" he asked, leaning forward to brush her loose hair out of her face.  "You seem a bit off tonight."

She looked away, unable to meet his eyes.  Her guilt was pressing down on her like a pile of heavy quilts.  She had to tell him, and it had to be now. "There's something you should know about me, and…"  She sighed.  "I'm not sure how you're going to feel about it."

His face went serious and guarded.  "That sounds ominous."

"It's not." She shook her head, hoping to dispel his gloomy reaction.  "It's just... something I haven't told you about myself.  It's… a pretty huge secret, actually, and I feel like I'm being dishonest by not telling you."

"Oh."  His shoulders relaxed as he dropped his frozen state.  "Well, I promise to hear you out, if you want to share it with me.  And I'll do my best not to judge you."  He reach over and took one of her hands.  "And if you're really not comfortable telling me yet, I can wait."

Oh god.  He was too wonderful.  "I don't think I should wait.  But I'm nervous." Her eyes stung, and she willed them not to tear up.  "It made sense at first, but now I feel like I should've told you sooner, but I'm not sure when the right time was."

He let go of her hand, moved to her chaise, and held out his arms for a hug.  "Come here, Princess."

She practically threw herself into his lap, burying her face in his shoulder.

"What are you most worried about?" he asked gently.  "Maybe if we talk about it, we can ease those fears and make it easier."

"I'm afraid you'll be mad.  That it'll change the way you feel about me." She held tightly to him, wondering if this was the last time he'd hold her.  No.  She was being ridiculous.  She know him better than that.

"I'm not sure what **could** change the way I feel about you, Mari."  He kissed the top of her head.  "If it's an important part of who you are, I'd like to know.  I want the complete Marinette experience."

She giggled.  He was so silly.

"And… depending on what it is, we might have to… figure some stuff out together, but I'm willing to do that."  He tightened his hold on her.  "I'm here for the long haul."

She nodded, then pushed away from him to stand up.  "It's easier to show than tell."

He smiled encouragingly.  "Then please show me what I need to know about you."

"Tikki," she whispered.  "Spots on."  A familiar light breeze accompanied the joy of her transformation.  He stared at her, his eyes wider than she'd ever seen, looking completely stunned.  She raised a hand and gave him a tiny wave.  "Hi Kitty."

Chat stared at her, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping.  After a moment, he managed to blink.  His jaw snapped shut as he raised one hand to point at her. The thinking expression she'd pointed out weeks ago appeared on his face.

She reminded herself of the advice she'd given Adrien.  "I realize this is kind of a shock," she said quietly.  "And it's okay if you need some time to… process or deal, or whatever, so I'm not going to push you or anything."  She grabbed her desk chair, and sat, staring at her spotted toes.  "I'll just sit here.  And if there's anything you need from me, any way I can help, just let me know."  She waved her hands.  "Again, not pushing.  Just… trying to be supportive."  She blinked rapidly and glanced away.  It wouldn't be fair to cry in front of him right now.  He'd feel guilty, and he'd done nothing to deserve that.

She gasped when his hands unexpectedly took hold of the seat of her chair, pulling it closer to him on the chaise.  She peeked up at his face, surprised to see him smiling.

He let go and sat down in front of her.  "Not gonna lie," he said quietly. "I totally didn't see that coming."

"Really?" She thought he might at least suspect.  After all, he spent so much time with both Ladybug and Marinette.  

"When you told me you had a huge secret, there were two things that crossed my mind, and this…"  He gestured to her and snorted.  "...was neither of them."

"Okay." He didn't seem upset or even irritated.  If anything, he looked amused.  "Do I dare ask what **did** occur to you?"

His cheeks went pink.  "No judging, okay?"

"No judging," she promised.

"The first was that you were adopted, which seemed unlikely, because I can't imagine why that would be a big secret.  So with that in mind, I wondered if you were trans."  He shrugged.

"Would you have been okay if I was trans?" she wondered.

"I love **you** Marinette," he insisted.  "Gender is not a real important thing for me."  He held out a hand to her, wrapping his fingers around hers when she grabbed it.  "I need a bond with someone before I feel a romantic or physical attraction."  He grinned. "And I've fallen for **you** twice."

"Well, to set the record straight, I'm bi but not trans, and omygod…"  She broke off and stared at him.  "Did you say, love?"  There was a good chance she was hyperventilating.

"Sorry." Chat in panic mode was a babbling mess  "It's too soon, right? I'm sorry.  I'm not good at this kind of thing.  I don't know any of the unwritten rules about relationships."

She grabbed his bell, cutting him off.  "Did you, or did you not say you love me?"

"I did." His tone was rueful.  "I understand if you're not ready to hear it, yet.  And I don't expect you to say it back or even feel the same way.  But… it's been in here," he said, thumping his chest with one fist.  "For so long.  And, I wanted you to know.  I'm in love with you."  He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers.

"Oh," she whispered, more than a little overwhelmed.  "And you're okay with this?"  She held out her hands, showing off her spots.

"I am."

"You're not mad at me for… using your relationship with Ladybug to umm… nudge things along?"  She didn't want anything to come back later as a problem, and that could easily be seen as a violation of trust.

He rocked his forehead gently against hers before straightening up.  "I have no right being upset about it when I did the exact same thing." The pink was back in his cheeks and he looked a little embarrassed.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, baffled.

He gnawed on his lower lip, his extra sharp canines catching a little.  "I know you, Mari," he said quietly.  "Not just as Chat."

She stared at him, trying to identify him.

"We're really good friends," he explained.  "We even had lunch together, just us, on Wednesday, so you could help me with something."  He reached up and rubbed at the back of his neck.  "Plagg, claws in," he muttered.  Sparkly green light ran over her boyfriend leaving a nervous-looking Adrien Agreste in his place.  "Hi Princess."

Holding his eyes with hers, Marinette crawled into his lap.  "Tikki, spots off." She brushed back his bangs.  "It's you," she whispered, amazed.  "It's really you."  She lightly rested her hand on his cheek.  "You know, I was in love with Adrien for ages.  By the time I realized I'd let go, I was in love with Chat."  She giggled.  "It's always been you."

"I really want to kiss you, Princess," he whined.

She leaned in and brushed their lips together, briefly at first, then again with more force.  It was so familiar, yet so odd when her tongue didn't encounter his fangs.  It was comfortable but strangely new to have his bare hands slide up to her hips, gripping a little before pulling her closer.  She pushed her fingers up the back of his neck and into his hair, delighted when he moaned into her mouth as usual, his chest spasming as his breathing staggered.  

She ran her lips over his cheek to reach his ear.  "I love you Kitty."

His arms tightened around her and he burrowed his face into her neck.  The low rumble of his purr didn't seem out of place until she remembered hew wasn't Chat Noir at the moment.

"Oh," she gasped in realization.  "You still purr."  She worked her hand through his hair the way he liked it.  "I love your purr."

"Oops," he murmured, not sounding remotely sorry.  "I'm stuck."  He pretended to struggle to let go, giving up after a moment.  "Sorry. Can't let go.  You're going to have to stay on my lap forever." His lips brushed her skin as he spoke.

She giggled.  "Oh no."  She sighed dramatically.  "Whatever shall I do?"

After several moments, he spoke again, sounding a bit uncertain.  "I don't want to assume, but it seems like you're okay with me?  Uhm.  Adrien being Chat?"

She nodded.  "You will always be my favorite Kitty, in and out of that suit, and I'm so glad Adrien is my Chat Noir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this. I forgot my partial draft at home so I couldn't work on it over my lunch break yesterday. But today, I'm home with fever girl, so ta-da! Also, apparently I lied. There will be one more chapter, because this wouldn't be complete without showing the aftermath with Mari's family and their friends.


	8. Socializing Kitty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Sabine consider adopting Adrien. Alya and Nino finally get to meet Marinette's mystery boyfriend, who she calls Kitty, and who comes in via the skylight.

Marinette woke utterly relaxed and at ease, instead of tense and troubled as she'd been the last week.  Her back was warm where Adrien pressed against her, his purr so quiet she missed it at first.  He had one arm around her, draped across her body to cup her shoulder.  She ran her fingers over his, hesitating briefly before brushing her thumb over his ring.

His arm tightened and he let out a sigh so close to her ear that she felt it more than she heard it.  "Hmm."  He nuzzled the back of her neck. "Princess, I like waking up with you."

He was voicing her own thoughts.  She giggled.  "I like this, too."  She rolled over in his embrace, eager to catalog the ways drowsy Adrien was similar and different from drowsy Chat.  "Did you sleep well?"

He nodded, bringing his hand up to caress her cheek.  "My sleep is best when I'm with you, even if it's just a nap on movie night."  He sat up, glancing over at her clock.

Last night she'd had a little meltdown when she realized that all the horrible things she knew about Chat's father actually applied to Adrien's.  That Adrien had hidden from his best friends how manipulative and abusive his father really was.  It had been part of why he'd started visiting her as Chat.  It allowed him to shed his Agreste brand social mask, something he hadn't felt he could do as Adrien.  But the social mask was broken around Marinette now; he'd been unable to don it in her presence when they had lunch together during the week.  

She'd only been able to calm down when he quietly explained that he had a plan to get out from under his father's influence.  While she, Nino, and Alya had been plotting ways to get him out of modeling, he'd been carefully shifting his assets, the money he'd earned over years of modeling, into accounts his father couldn't touch.  He'd consulted a lawyer about getting out of the contract he'd signed with Gabriel on his eighteenth birthday.  Once school was over and Final Bac was done, he was going to move into his own apartment and cut ties with his father himself.

"You're always welcome to sleep here, Kitty," she said, feeling a lump in her throat again.  "Even if it's just part of the night."

He smiled.  "That means a lot.  And I'll probably take you up on it, especially when things are bad."  He caught her face in both hands.  "No, no, no."  He kissed her cheek quickly.  "None of that, Princess.  It's only a month more."  He snorted.  "I'm good at being patient and biding my time.  I've been working on this for years."

She took a deep breath, collecting herself, and nodded.  "I know.  But it just all feels so much more real now.  And… I hate that you've been living like this for so long, and I didn't know.  I couldn't help."

He covered her lips with his thumb.  "You've been helping me for… years.  First as Ladybug, then as my friend and love, Marinette."  He kissed her forehead.  "You'll help me get through this last month.  Then I'll be free."

She threw herself at his chest.  "Okay.  Yeah."  She hugged him tightly.  "I'm looking forward to that."  She pushed herself back and ruffled his hair.  "All right.  Enough of that.  Are you ready to meet my parents… again?"

He grinned.  "I am."

Marinette went down to the bakery alone.  As luck had it, they'd woken early enough to talk to her parents before opening.  It would be the best time to pull her parents away from their business until evening.  "Mama, Baba?' she called, walking into the kitchen where they were well into their morning work.

"Good morning Cupcake," her father said.  Looking up from the boules he was sliding into the oven.  "Did you need something?"

She nodded.  "Could you and Mama spare ten minutes?  Chat and I wanted to talk to you about something."

Her father grinned, looking smug.  "Still here, is he?"

She glanced at her mother, setting aside a pastry bag full of frosting.  "Last night was kind of important."  She shook her head.  " **Not** the way you're thinking," she corrected quickly.  When **that** happened, she wasn't likely to share it with her parents.  That'd be too weird, even if they were okay with it.

"We can spare ten minutes for you and Chat," her mother said.  She gestured for Marinette to lead the way back upstairs.

Once they were in the living room, seated on the couch, she smiled uncertainly.  "I know who Chat is under the mask.  And he'd like you to know, too."

Her parents looked surprised.  "Is that safe?" her mother asked.  "I mean, I know that's why he hasn't told any of us."

Marinette nodded. "You're more like real parents to him than his own father is." She bit her lip for a moment.  "We're more like a real family than his own, and now that I know, he'd like you to, too."  She shrugged.  

All the amusement was erased from her parents' faces.  She was pretty sure they were ready to adopt him that instant.  They met each others' eyes, having one of those silent conversations good partnerships could manage. "We understand," her father said, nodding.

""We're also thinking it's time for Alya and Nino to know about us, but it's better if they don't know he's Chat Noir, which means you'll figure it out anyway.""  She smiled, once again grateful for the fortune that gave her supportive loving parents.  "Kitty, you can come down now," she called.

He entered the room as Adrien, his face a little more pale than usual and tightness evident in his shoulders.  "Good morning Sabine, Tom."  He bowed to both of them as he came to stand beside Marinette.  "I'd like to thank you for being so understanding and welcoming to me as Chat."

"Yes!" her father shouted raising one fist in the air while her mother let out a gleeful squeal.

Marinette exchanged a puzzled glance with Adrien before turning back to her parents, both of whom were giggling now.  "What was **that**?" she asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," her father insisted, standing and holding a hand out to Adrien.  "You are always welcome here Adrien." The moment he had Adrien's hand, he pulled him in for a hug.  "We appreciate you sharing this with us.  We recognize the significance, and we'll guard the knowledge carefully."

"Thank you, Tom."  

Her father released him, and her mother stepped in for a hug.  "I was so hoping **you** were under that mask Adrien."

He stared at her shocked for a moment.  "You… you were?"  He rubbed the back of his neck.  "Did you suspect me?"

Her mother grinned. "I wasn't sure by any stretch, but there were hints that it could be you.  Little things, like your obvious upper class upbringing.  Your build and coloring are the same, and you both had growth spurts at the same time."  She winked at Marinette.  "I might not have noticed if my daughter wasn't spending **so** much time with you on both sides of the mask."

A timer went off downstairs.  "We've got to get back to work," her father said, clapping Adrien on the shoulder one last time.  "Please know that if you ever need anything, you can come to me or Sabine."

Adrien nodded, his eyes unusually bright and his voice temporarily unavailable.

Marinette slipped an arm around him as he watched her parents leave.  "You okay, Kitty?"  She brushed his hair back, not because it was in the way, but because she knew it would soothe him.

He coughed, clearing his throat.  "Yeah."  He smiled down at her.  "Have I ever told you that you're the best thing to ever happen to me?"

"No."  The urge to laugh died when she realized that his life really had been such that something as simple as being loved was the best thing ever.

"I should have," he said, taking her hand.  "Because you are."

Her breath caught. She was definitely going to cry again.  "Can we go cuddle?" she asked.  "I have a sudden need to cuddle with you."

* * *

 

"I have to take this call," Adrien said, pulling out his phone as they all stood around Marinette's locker.  "I'll catch up with you guys, okay?"

"Sure thing," Marinette replied before anyone could suggest waiting.  "Just come on in when you get there.  We'll be up in my room."  She flashed him a smile before ushering their other friends out of school.  On Saturday night, after a long photo involving a badly behaved diva who naturally caused an akuma, they'd met on her balcony.  Though they needed to keep things below his father's radar until after he'd moved out, neither particularly wanted to continue hiding it from their friends.

Always one with a flair for the dramatic, Adrien had a plan.  And she had to admit, he knew more than a little about staging.  And while Alya was probably going to be twenty-five percent pissed off, Marinette was sure she'd get over it with their half-complete explanation

"Goodness is it lunchtime already?" her mother called as they entered through the bakery.  

"Yes, Mama." Getting her parents in on the plan had been surprisingly fun.  "Is he here yet?"

Her mother held out a white paper bag, treats for their lunch.  "I don't think so," she said.  "I haven't heard him.  But if he comes in the usual way, I could have missed him."

"Yeah.  Okay." Marinette took the bag.  "Thanks."

"I'll send him up to your room if he comes through here," her mother promised with a nod.  "Have a nice lunch."

"So your parents already know him?" Nino asked.  

Marinette couldn't hold back the laugh.  "Of course!  I mean, he has been coming over for movie night every Friday for… a while now."  She'd realized by Chat's third visit, it had become a thing, and she needed to let her parents know.  Because she had, they liked him and trusted both of them.  If they'd found out by accident, she wasn't sure they'd have the same outcome.  "There was no way to hide that from my parents, and I can't imagine how guilty and horrible I'd feel if I tried."  

" **That's** why you're the cinnamon roll," Alya added.  "You'd **never** hide a boy in your room without telling your parents."

Marinette grinned. Her bestie didn't know the half of it.  "Anyway, even before we started dating, he sometimes had dinner with us."  She and Chat had set things up for a bedroom picnic last night, pushing the chaise out of the way and draping a blanket over her area rug.

"What did your mom mean about coming in the usual way?" Alya asked, settling herself on the edge of the blanket.

Marinette looked up at her skylight.

"No.  Way." Alya's voice was a shocked whisper.

"Woah!" Nino crowed happily.  "He's been sneaking into your room from the roof?  Wild."

"How?" Alya demanded.

"Uhh, fire escape," Marinette supplied, hoping she sounded a little nervous.  "He's… a surprisingly adept climber."

"Oh.  My. God!"  Alya squealed.  "He's been sneaking into your room from the balcony?  For months?  Even though your parents knew about him?  And you didn't realize there was something romantic going on?"

"To be fair," Marinette jumped in.  "I don't think it started romantic."

"Do I have to wait for Mr. Adorkable to show up before I start asking questions?" Alya asked, clearly eager to get more information now that it was allowed.  She'd actually done very well respecting Marinette's need for privacy on this issue.

"Naah." Nino waved his phone at them.  "He just texted that we should go ahead and start without him."

"Ugh.  Not again," Alya groaned.  "Are you **sure** I can't beat up his father?"

Nino snorted.  "On the same page, babe.  But he promises he'll be here in a few."

"Can you tell us his name?" Alya asked, turning back to Marinette.

"Not yet." Marinette shook her head.  "Oh, but I could tell you what we call each other."

"You don't use each others' names?" Alya demanded.  "Why not?"

Marinette felt her cheeks heat up.  Adrien had covered everything in his plan, even this question.  "His father is an abusive, controlling asshole," she explained, glad he wasn't there to hear her description.  Yes, he recognized his father was these horrible things, and he was getting out as soon as he could, but it still hurt.  "We had to keep all of this secret.  We didn't want to risk using each others' names elsewhere, just in case."

"So you had like code names for each other?" Nino asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Nicknames, yeah."  Marinette smiled.

"Pet names!" Alya corrected.  "Tell us."

"He calls me Princess."  She blushed again when her friends started to giggle.  "And I call him Kitty."

"Kitty?" Alya demanded.  "What the fuck kind of pet name is- **ohmygod**! You're dating Chat Noir!"

There was a light thump from the roof.

Alya let out a shriek.  "It is it is **it is**!  You're totally dating a superhero!"

"Not exactly," Marinette corrected.  Holding up a finger.

There was a tap at the skylight.  "I'm here Princess.  Sorry I'm late."

"Come on in," she called back.

The window lifted and Adrien dropped easily into the room, hardly making any noise when he landed.  "Hi guys.  What'd I miss?"

Nino took off his glasses, quickly cleaned them, and put them back on.  He fought a short battle with a grin before the laughter escaped.  "Bro.  You have some explaining to do."

" **What**?!"  Alya demanded.  "You..."  She pointed at Adrien before training her finger on Marinette.  "And you?  For how long?  Without telling us?!"

Adrien reached out to rest one hand on Alya's shoulder.  "I get that it's kind of a surprise," he said gently.  "But if you'd sit down and listen, I'm sure you'll understand."  He was disgustingly good a defusing tension.  "It's not like we meant to hide something important from you.  Either of you."  He glanced over at Nino.

"We can start with dessert, if that would help," Marinette suggested, pulling mini chocolate marble cheesecakes out of the bag.

Once they were all sitting down, Adrien caught Marinette's hand in his.  "Okay, so the short version of the story is that I've been sneaking out of my dad's house every Firday night for going on two years, to hang out with Marinette.  And about a month ago we realized we both wanted to be more than friends."  He was wearing the smile that got him called Sunshine for nearly a year.  "You knew her side of it.  And I think she told us that the guy she was hanging out with had a potentially problematic public identity and a father who wouldn't approve of movie night."

Nino slapped his forehead.  "How did we not realize it was you after that first time?  I mean, it was a perfect description of your situation."

Adrien snorted.  "You're not wrong."

"We were afraid if anyone saw him here, or knew about it, his dad would catch wind of it and..."  Marinette shrugged.

"Bye bye movie night," he supplied glumly.

"So he always came after dark, dressed in black and taking scenic route."  Or rooftops.  Those counted as scenic, right?

"You two usually had dates on Friday nights," Adrien said, gesturing to their friends.  "And we kind of wanted to do our own thing together.  Something to keep us from being lonely, that was fun, but wouldn't get me into trouble, you know?  And I realized I had a ton of anime I thought Princess would like."

Alya, who'd managed to be silent for the last few minutes, made a chirping sound reminiscent of  an annoyed fox.  "Princess," she gasped.  "You..."  She covered her face.  "I think I might combust."  She flopped onto her back.

"And it just became a routine during that first series," Adrien continued.  "And neither of us wanted to stop.  It was like, the one time during the week that I could totally be myself, and no one would mind."

"I like it when you're yourself," Marinette interjected.

He shot her a bashful smile and brought her hand up for a quick kiss.  Freezing when Alya made that sound again.  "Sorry Al."

"And eventually, watching movies sitting together kind of evolved into cuddling," Marinette explained.  "It wasn't a planned thing.  It just... sort of... happened."

"And flirting.  There was **definitely** some of that," Adrien added, grinning.

"Dude.  Do you even **know** how to flirt?" Nino demanded.

"Oh my god," Alya muttered.  "I bet he's got a super geeky intellectual angle to it."

"Did you know that the way to Mari's heart is through puns?" Adrien asked.

"Is this why you were such a disaster when she wore that black leather getup to school?" Alya demanded.  "She punned like freaking Chat Noir, and **you** , an actual runway model, fell over."

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck.  "Uhm."

"To be fair, the last time he'd seen me in that, we'd kissed for the first time, so..."  Marinette shrugged.

Nino started chuckling.  "I had no idea you could be so mean, Mari."

"What?" She flashed them her most innocent look.

"You start secretly dating him, then show up in an outfit that was totally hot."  He beamed at the others.  "Cause I think we can all agree, you were smokin' in that.  And you pun at my poor boy."  He shook his head.  "Dude, I take back every exasperated thing I said to you that day."

"Thank you for understanding," Adrien said, holding out a fist for his best friend to bump.  "And honestly, it was much harder for me to adjust to secret dating, than it was for Mari.  I think I finally have my act together."  He rolled his eyes.

"You two are painfully adorable," Alya said.

"You don't hate us?" Marinette asked.

"Naah." She shook her head.  "I'm glad you told us, though."

"There's more," Marinette said quietly.  "And like the dating thing you need to keep this absolutely hush-hush."

"My father doesn't know this, and I need to keep the element of surprise to get the best outcome," Adrien said, all sign of mirth wiped off his face.

Alya gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth and gesturing for him to continue.

"I'm an adult, so I can legally do some things I couldn't before," he explained.  "And I've been setting up some things to give myself as many advantages as possible."

"You're breaking off from your father."  Nino's voice was a harsh whisper.  "You are, aren't you?"

Adrien nodded. "After Final Bac, he has a trip to London planned.  Once he's gone, I'll transfer the rest of my money to some accounts he can't access.  I'm going to move out.  And my lawyer will sever my contract with Gabriel.  It's got to all happen in one day so he can't figure out in time to sabotage me.  And I could maybe use help with some of it."

"How long have you been planning this?" Nino asked, impressed.

Adrien's grin was crooked and more than a little Chat-like.  "Nearly two years." He sighed.  "I haven't always been fully honest with you and Alya.  And it's only since movie nights started that I let Mari see the mess my father's made of me.  I was so conditioned to be perfect. To always represent the Agreste name and the Gabriel line.  I didn't know how to turn that off, to be honest.  I didn't think I had a choice, and I didn't see a way out of it."

Marinette moved closer and ran her hand up his arm to the back of his neck.

He gave her a side glance.  "Thanks Princess," he murmured.  "Marinette has actually helped me with that a lot.  And I know I can't stay in this situation."  He shrugged.  "But he has so much power, and no qualms using it to blacklist anyone.  Even me."

The room was silent for several moments.

Adrien sighed. "Sorry.  That was kind of a lot to dump on you."

"Brace yourself, dude," Nino said.  "We're going to glomp onto you now."

As Alya and Nino piled on him from the front, Marinette wrapped her arms around his chest and pressed her smile into his shirt, right between his shoulder blades.  "We've got your back, Kitty," she whispered.  "We always will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thanks to everyone who read along, especially to those who gave me kudos or comments (really, you're the best!). This was a ton of fun to write, and it was nice to see so many people enjoying it.

**Author's Note:**

> I've got this pretty well outlined, so it should update pretty quickly. Hope you enjoy.


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